Bridge Runners
The Bridge Runners are a trading group with a presence only in North America and former Canada, largely shaped after the old idea of the 'Pony Express' and the early Wells Fargo Bank. Their central goal is to link all settlements in the United States, and provide opportunities for trade, growth, and communication between them. Although its location is currently unknown, the Runners operate at least one 'Bank' capable of printing money, and have converted the IDn credits used during the Dominions occupation into a standardized North American currency called tokens. The Runners occupy several small trading posts along their main travel routes, usually manned by 1 Salesmen and a handful of guards. These posts serve as trade hubs as well as rest and refueling stops for Runners and regular travelers alike. The groups numbers are currently around 2,000, attracting those unable to settle down and looking to make a living for themselves, either for profit or for a worthy cause. They employ a variety of skills, such as mechanics, path-finders, drivers, guards, and sales clerks. In their small arsenal is a fleet of expertly refurbished transport vehicles, mostly large vans, armored cars, and semi-trucks. However, due to the ever declining availability of gasoline, the Runners find themselves relying more and more on horses and modernized wagons. As far as weaponry and equipment, most likely through their various and expansive trading deals, Bridge Runners boast some of the most up to date non-IDn gear available to assist them in traversing the wasteland and protecting their stock. While having access to trade with the best of the worlds surviving artisans, they are also rumored to have extensive dealings with the shadowy Elkros faction. Bridge Runners maintain a strict policy of absolute neutrality. Upon the New Unions arrival to the town of Debalk, an event occurred involving the New Union damaging a trading post and discharging firearms near its customers and staff. The story, diluted and magnified slightly through distance, reached Bridge Runner leadership sounding like an act of hostility. In response the Bridge Runners abandoned several far eastern stations and consolidated back North and further West. Several months later, they branched back out and re-established contact and trade with the New Unions Western garrisons. Relatively simple and mutually beneficial relations were kept with both the New Union and the Vanguard for quite some time afterward. Often the Vanguard forward scouting teams were welcomed into Runner trading posts and allowed to trade and rest until they either moved on or established a camp of their own. Most towns that the Vanguard would enter for the first time for recruitment reasons already had a Runner store or presence of some kind, and the simple word from the Runners that the Vanguard weren't evil helped the Vanguard form initial trust with many settlements. In many New Union related outposts and settlements, the Bridge Runners provided several commodities for the soldiers that they otherwise would have difficulty finding, whether it be foods that hadn't been seen in over a decade, candies, cigarettes, unique firearms and other trinkets. There was never any official relation between the New Union and the Bridge Runners, but the New Unions enlisted and Vanguard generally were happy to see them, and the Runners always appreciated their business. To some in the New Union, however, mainly high ranking veteran officers and JUDGE units; The Bridge Runners were nothing more than irrelevant hucksters pawning garbage and distracting their men, causing some officers to outright ban their men from using the trading posts. Despite this, the two groups avoided violent confrontation, and their decent standing with one another continued all the way to the New Unions Second Schism. At the outbreak of fracture and violence in City 33, the Runners again were forced to pull away North and West, hiding from the initial fighting and waiting for everything to calm down. City 33s destruction and wildly fractured population heading in all directions impacted the Bridge Runners in various ways. Some neutral North and Western settlements saw an influx of way too many people to handle, as well as Bridge Runner posts being briefly overcrowded by civilian refugees. Orders eventually came from Bridge Runner leadership to invest resources into relief efforts and charity, donating mostly food and winter clothing and establishing temporary tent cities to accommodate all the extra people. Eventually, the refugee problem settled itself as people either moved deeper into the continent, assimilated into established settlements, or opted to join the Bridge Runners, increasing their numbers by nearly 500. The Runners charity paid off, given that most of their new membership had been trained by the New Union in logistical or light combat roles in the first place. This proved to be extremely important in the weeks and months to come, as the fighting in City 33 released several hundred prisoners into the continent, many who saw fit to attack Runner trade convoys and posts. A brief and miniature war erupted in the neutral areas of the North-East between the Runners and the former prisoners. The prisoners, varying from untrained petty criminals to hardened former Vanguard NCOs, continually harassed the Bridge Runners in isolated clusters. Some of the attacks were repelled quite easily, as the prisoners were almost tribal in their attacks, never coordinating as a whole group, and often poorly equipped relative to the Runners merchant guard. However, some prisoner groups were more successful than others, many having looted high end gear from the New Unions demise, such as PBFFs and even JUDGE armor. Several convoys were sacked and Runner aligned settlements razed, until the Bridge Runners elite guard was brought down from the far Northern Arctic, known informally as the 'Knights.' Over time, the prisoners were either hunted down and killed, dispersed back into other regions of the continent, or retreated into the borders of the New Coalition where the Runners refused to pursue them. The Bridge Runners picked up the pieces from the small war, doing business with only neutral settlements for a few months as they always had, until they made contact with the newly formed Terra Concord. From here, they met with Concord leadership and signed an official trade deal with the large faction. The Concords civilian and enlisted populace was elated with the new inflow of previously rare foods and other simple comforts otherwise thought lost to time. The Bridge Runners were happy to secure a trade deal with a relatively friendly and powerful producer of arms and technology, selling what the Concord could safely spare to settlements all across the continent. The trade routes of the runners have since rapidly altered to accommodate the radically changed factional borders of the continent. Currently, they have a massive presence in TC held territory, as well as Northern, Eastern, and even Western neutral settlements. They have made no efforts to resume business with the New Union, or the Norguard Confederacy as of yet.